California is enduring its worst wildfires since statehood. We are not alone. Sweden, Australia, Greece, Portugal and northwest England are experiencing the same destructive, often-fatal catastrophes. Last year it was our neighbors in Sonoma and Napa counties that experienced the calamity that destroyed parts of Santa Rosa and inhabited lands to the north and east.

Despite every warning, far too little is being done to make Marin fire safe.

Is there any doubt that Marin will face the same fate? The question is not “if,” it’s “when and where.”

Marin has been there before. Fire Safe Marin’s website chronicles 39 major wildfires from 1858 to the spectacular 2008 Angel Island fire.

The greatest threat to life and property in Marin is wildland fire. Its horror is magnified if the event occurs in conjunction with a major earthquake and/or it ignites — as it did in Santa Rosa — at night. The double disaster scenario isn’t fantasy. Mill Valley’s fire department trains for such a dark day.

No part of Marin is safe. Residents in flat ground neighborhoods far from forested hillsides shouldn’t sleep much easier than those on Mount Tamalpais’s heavily wooded slopes. A visit to what’s left of Santa Rosa’s destroyed Coffey Park — a flat and un-forested neighborhood — will prove the point.

The climate is changing and, as predicted, California’s weather is warmer and conditions drier. To deny climate change’s reality is akin to being a flat-earther, believing tobacco use doesn’t cause cancer or the walk on the moon was faked. Climate change isn’t a political issue literally anywhere in the world except the United States.

Worrying about the causes of climate change is important but pales in comparison to the imperative of dealing with its real-world impacts. Supervisor Kate Sears honestly thinks she’s helping by banning plastic drinking straws. She might reflect on the following from CALmatters: “In less than one week, October’s wine-country fires discharged harmful emissions equal to that of every car, truck and big rig on the state’s roads in a year.” If Sears wants to effectively limit carbon emissions, she should concentrate on tree thinning and brush removal.

Despite the obvious warnings, Marin government is pursuing a business-as-usual approach to the looming inferno. Proof is everywhere. Our hillsides remain a mass of flammable vegetation. Urban foresters advise Marin’s forests need thinning while brush and undergrowth must be removed on Mt. Tam’s lower slopes and on community-separator hills.

Ask our firefighters. They’ll explain the risks and what needs to be done. The dilemma is once flames get going on an overgrown hillside on a dry day with northeast winds, at best they can limit or slow its spread. If the fire ignites at night and warnings are inadequate, we’ll have fatalities. That’s why I’ve suggested every town mimic Mill Valley and install simple and easy-to-understand warning sirens.

Who really thinks that in the event of simultaneous multiple wildfires there’ll be sufficient borate and water bombers to address Marin’s needs? Is anyone even talking about the lack of aerial support?

Vegetation management must be our county supervisors’ top priority. After all, public safety is their primary assignment.

I recognize that Supervisor Katie Rice gets the problem. In a future column we’ll delve into her efforts. In Sacramento, Sen. Mike McGuire is doing yeoman’s work. He’s from Healdsburg and had seen wildland fire’s repercussions close up.

The other four Marin supervisors and our water districts’ directors seem to believe having vegetation management plans in the file cabinet is sufficient. Only comprehensive brush clearing and tree thinning will do the job. If not promptly accomplished, history will brand our officials asleep at the switch. It’s time for action, not talk.

Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley writes on local issues Sundays and Wednesdays. Email him at spotswood@comcast.net.